Sydney pop songstress by way of Hong Kong, Rainbow Chan records her music in the same place that her zany garb and shoes reside: her closet. After realizing her original artistic focus of being an oh-so-experimental singer/songwriter was not for her, Chan turned to something a little more her: infectious pop music out of left field. What resulted from this genre jump is the Long Vacation EP (Silo Arts), which is named after a 1996 Japanese TV drama. She claims the inspiration for the six tracks consist of, but not limited to, glockenspiels and music boxes, Frédéric Chopin and Steve Reich, girl groups and electronics, Hong Kong pop, Shanghai jazz, American rhythm ‘n’ blues and Japanese television theme songs. Chan will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all this week. Read our brand new feature on her.
Chan: I found this synth at a secondhand music store down the road from my house. It has some really bad sounds but also amazing functions like the portamento button for sleazy bass and joysticks that control filters and pitch-shifting. I’ve based my Long Vacation EP heavily around the sounds of this little beast. It’s capable of creating really whacked and detuned melodies against a backdrop of fuzzy white noise. I like that the Korg Sigma‘s palette is limited compared to newer synths because it allows me to create a coherent sound and be creative with how far I push its boundaries.
Video after the jump.
